Twyla Francois
May 2017
When we expressed our concern with the birds being exposed to the cold and developing frostbite on their heads, legs and feet the men responded: “We cut those parts off, ma'am”.
Sometimes you hear about things happening to animals that you just can't
believe. As investigators, we have a lot of those moments but they're more
along the lines of "I can't believe I'm seeing this". These entries will
share some of those experiences with you—moments where we had to shake our
heads in dismay, fumble around frantically to press the record button or ask
a number of follow up questions to figure out if what we were seeing and
hearing was really as it seemed. Sadly, it always was.
I'll start the collection with an experience I had in the early days of my
investigations that came to represent the prevailing attitude about farmed
animals held by farmers, auction workers, drivers and shockingly, even
veterinarians.
"We Cut Those Parts Off" - Storm Lake, Iowa
On a bitterly cold afternoon in late January, a colleague and I picked up
and trailed a densely loaded turkey truck just outside of Des Moines, Iowa.
We followed the truck for 4 hours to its destination–Sara Lee Foods in Storm
Lake, Iowa. The truck was uncovered, exposing the turkeys to the frigid
temperatures and icy winds. Many of the birds were in very poor shape with
what appeared to be broken legs, ripped off digits and signs of frostbite on
their heads and toes. A few turkeys appeared dead and some were crammed into
a broken container. There was a large amount of blood on the ceiling of one
of the cages. Many of the birds had badly soiled, feces-caked keels
indicating that they had been too sick or injured to walk for some time
before being loaded.
Image © 2007 Animals' Angels
Once the trailer arrived at the plant the sun had gone down, lowering the temperature even further. Still, the turkeys were left on the truck un-tarped and unprotected for yet another 2 hours in the freezing cold.
Deeply concerned with the state of the birds and the lack of protection afforded them, we asked to speak with the facility manager. Two men from the slaughterhouse came out and spoke to us. When we expressed our concern with the birds being exposed to the cold and developing frostbite on their heads, legs and feet the men responded: “We cut those parts off, ma'am”. Each time we reiterated our concern, they responded with the same: "We cut those parts off". They truly couldn't comprehend why we were concerned about the turkeys. When we finally tried to clarify that our concern was for the welfare of these birds while they were alive and that they were suffering terribly, the men re-stated their position, then clarified a little themselves, saying: “By the time the USDA inspector gets to them, those parts are already cut off”.
Image © 2007 Animals' Angels
To these men, the fact that the turkeys were alive and suffering meant
absolutely nothing. It was like we were speaking different languages. They
simply couldn't see the birds as anything but not-yet-dead meat. Their only
concern was being written up by the USDA, and that wasn't even a real worry
because, as they said, those parts were cut off by then (ie. the evidence of
the turkeys' suffering was no longer immediately visible).
This view of animals as not-yet-dead but not really alive or sentient came
to be repeated over and over again, regardless of the country we were
working in or who we were speaking with. This is the attitude that is
inculcated into those working in the animal agriculture industry. Whether it
is a necessary psychological protection that allows them to continue working
in an industry that routinely tortures and kills animals or whether it's
deliberately induced through indoctrination, it makes little difference to
the animals forced to suffer under it.
Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.
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0 rodents
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0 camels / camelids